The multi-layered and multi-scalar nature of the term ‘community’ makes it a useful tool for both particularistic studies and cross-cultural comparisons, connecting scales of community to regional scales of settlement, exchange and mobility. This paper explores three general themes of community: community as place, as identity and as network. A case study of Neolithic communities in eastern Hungary and Lower Austria demonstrates a spatial and geoarchaeological approach to understanding the relational aspects of places, networks and identity to develop a social archaeology of communities.